Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[antmunoz]

This is totally new info for me. The Dobsons were very vocal at the time that Linda was merely a placeholder for Robin as Gina until Robin was available. I have always thought/felt that Linda was fired. 
 

Now maybe she put a spin on it years later…idk. 

Thanks for the info. It’s all in the way you remember it.  I was probably upset that MM was let go too. 

[Sapounopera]

Team Charles Bateman, Linda Gibboney and Ava Lazar all the way. 

Ava's Santana could have been the show's star. They gave up on her way too soon. 

[Efulton]

I agree!!!!

[antmunoz]

Charles Bateman was very good.  Jed Allan really had that chemistry with Judith McConnell though!

 

I still think Lloyd Bochner would’ve rocked it tho. 

[Liberty City]

YES! They tried to, and I hate saying this, but they turned her into what they stereotypically saw a Latina as. They could have gone to any of the White actresses, and they went after Ava Lazar, simpy because she was playing a Latina character. Even Lazar felt this, per this quote:

❝ Yes, I started out as blond on the show and one day the producers decided that everyone on the show was blond so I should be a brunette. So from one day to the next I had to color my hair. First with spray dye which was not very pleasant and then with real color. It would have been fine if I could have remained a chestnut brown however they insisted that it was not dark enough so they made my hair black, which I felt was way too harsh. Not to mention that I felt it was a cliché because I was playing Latin on the show that I would have to have dark hair ! If you notice now most Latina's have blond hair. Look at Jennifer Lopez! I really felt they had a great opportunity with the Latin theme on the show to do something unique but instead they went with the safer and more cliché storyline. I still feel they missed a wonderful opportunity! ❞

Lazar's Santana was vulnerable, yet strong in her intentions. She was ⏤ from my point of view ⏤ a fashionable interior designer, who wanted to find the baby she had given birth to. And she took the opportunities put in front of her to succeed in finding that baby. The beginning of Margaret Michaels was rocky, but, by the time she was beginning to find her footing, they [unfortunately] recast her, again!

Lazar's poise and dialect was just perfect for Santana. She spoke with such elegance. Lazar's exit was the first misstep the Dobsons had.

[Jdee43]

I would have liked to have seen them write Ava Lazar's Santana like they would later write Robin Mattson's Gina. The characters of Santana and Gina did seem to switch personalities with the recasts.

So they fired their lead alpha male star after the first 3 months. They gave their lead alpha female star an extra month, but then fired her too, after 4 months. Rough!!

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Jdee43

[Contessa Donatella]

Congratulations on the anniversary of the debut of my #3 favorite all-time show!

At the end of SB the Dobsons were headed to HW AW. They were pumped. P&G was ecstatic. And, NBC blocked it! I'm still mad. That could have been an AW renaissance! 

[1974mdp]

I remember loving LG in the role of Gina and being so disappointed when she was replaced, but then I totally feel in love with RM version of the character.

I was always disappointed with how the show handled the character of Santana. She had so much potential to be a long-term and complex lead on the show. I had high hopes when they brought on Wanda DeJesus, and she sort of became a lead character for a bit. But, I think the backstage drama that WD supposedly caused derailed the character yet again.

I would have loved to have seen what the Dobsons would have done with Rachel and Carl on AW. I loved the somewhat dark and gothic version they sometimes wrote for SB, and I think the same tone could have worked with Rachel and Carl.

[Liberty City]

From March 7 to August 7, 1988, the WGA were on-strike. The first strike episode (#939) of Santa Barbara began airing on April 25, 1988.

Was it concerning Jed Allan, or something else?

[Marissa Gallant]

It really was gross to watch. I mean who could fall for the guy who did all of that to you? Also, by 91, the whole CC/Sophia will they won't they was pretty old.

I actually liked Gina G when it looked like they were going to pair her with Brick. They were really good together. I preferred Amy, but the actress left. Santana and Brick could have been fun and opened several plot possibilities. 

[Jdee43]

Equally icky was Lionel and Eden. I just watched episode 94 and were they really going to go there? Was CC/Santana/Mason going to be followed by something like Lionel/Eden/Warren?

Lionel and Eden had no chemistry. Lionel did have chemistry with Augusta and Sophia.  

Episode 94 shows how bad the show was in late 84. An episode with just 6 characters, Ted and Laken, Eden and Lionel, and Brick and Augusta. Only the latter two had any life, especially Augusta. The show seemed to be designed to put people to sleep.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Jdee43

[j swift]

I think of all the original characters, Warren and Augusta were the ones with the most Montecito/Santa Barbara-specific vibes.

Mason, Eden, and CC all feel very east coast preppy.  They look like they never go to the beach.  They always dress in some form of business casual.  And they speak like mid-Atlantic old moneyed WASPs.  When I picture Mason and CC they are always in a blazer, and Eden favored heavy knits and long skirts even in the summer.  Those looks were fashionable for the time period, but not appropriate for life in Santa Barbara, especially given that they were supposed to be native to the city.

Kelly looks like a Southern California girl, but more Malibu than Santa Barbara.  She has typical Malibu Barbie style, hair, and lack of ambition.  However, she feels more at home in a bikini than at lunch in town with Megan Markle or Oprah.

Lionel and Minx seem more European, with their interests in art, history, and antiquity.

Gina and Julia have more of a big city urban vibe like one would find in Los Angeles.

Ted, Laken, Danny, and Jade all feel more appropriate to Orange County because it is very family oriented, but also a bit more upper middle class than the Uber-wealthy suburbs of Santa Barbara. 

Santana and Cruz are interesting because while it seems appropriate to have Latino families in a soap about Southern California, Santa Barbara is one of the least diverse parts of the area.  There is not a lot of economic diversity.  In fact, most household staff would commute from Los Angeles.  And the harbor in Santa Barbara is not only very expensive, but they don't allow people to live on their boats.

But, Warren, as initially written and portrayed, is a bit of a hustler, like one would expect of the youngest generation of a wealthy family.  There's a scene early on where he is discussing with Minx that he has investors lined up for a real estate deal on the beach.  In light of recent events, it is giving very much "let me call my famous Dad during dinner in order to seal this deal" energy.  I like JAN a lot in the role, and I wish that they had emphasized more of his hustler energy in order to give more context to when he later becomes a degenerate gambler.  I feel like his whole tangent into the newspaper and helping Maggie with her lawsuit were not in keeping with who Warren was meant to be.  And the decision to lean into that side of Warren's history with the recast bore no resemblance to the original character.

Augusta feels especially specific to Santa Barbara.  She is costumed like a lady from the area, from her wide brimmed hats to her flowy outfits.  Louise Sorel always exudes wealth, snobbery, and pomposity, but the mix with Augusta's libidinal urges, the way that she is body conscience, and her vague interest in the type of spirituality that one only gets from massage therapists and expensive yoga coaches make her feel like she is from the area. 

I wonder how much experience the Dobson's had in Santa Barbara culture, or if they did much research into its society, because the art direction and set design seem correct for the area, but the costumes, makeup, and many of the characters wouldn't fit in.

Edited August 2, 2023 by j swift

[Carlos Abad]

Episode 8:

-This is the first episode of Renée Jones as Toni, one good friend of Kelly. I like her. I wish they have used her more.

-I realized in this beginning they sometimes wear different outfits in the same episode. For example, Kelly has 3 different outfits and 3 different hairstyles. But in the future episodes they can be with the same clothes for about 6 or 7 episodes.

-Beautiful scene between Rosa and Kelly. I wish they have used her more. Margarita Cordova is a good actress and she has good chemistry with all the Capwells. But they never gave her an important story, despite being a regular character.

-Here C.C. says that Kelly looks so much like his mother, but in future episodes Eden is the one who is a Sophia lookalike.

-Many extras in the party. I see that in this beginning they are using many extras. They spend more money than in future episodes.

-This is the first time I feel sorry for Mason when C.C. makes his toast: To the beginning of Channing’s brilliant career. That was a great scene.

-I wonder if Patricia, Mason’s date, is a prostitute or not.

-Ava Lazar in these earlier episodes looks amazing as Santana. Sadly later on they made something really weird with her hair.

-Nice to see a big star like Tim Robbins doing a small role. But in the tittle of the episode, they also highlight Janine Turner and I have no idea who she is.

-Location scenes for Joe and Dominic which is always nice. I love when they shoot outside the sets. I think those scenes were shoot outside the studios. I have seen this parking in other episodes.

-I like to see some scenes between Joe and his sister Jade. Those are good scenes and well acted by Melissa and Dane. Nothing to do with John-Joe scenes that are terrible and really bad acted by both actors.

That’s true. And you know what it makes it worse?

Many of those scenes were with convertible cars so it even looks worse. I remember a Paul Burke Ava lazar scene going from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara in a convertible car that looked so cheap around episode 60. Also I’ve recently watched a Ted Christie scene where they go to Theda’s house that is also in a convertible car and it looks terrible.

Only 6 regular characters?  maybe that was the episode with less characters in the whole soap.

Edited August 2, 2023 by Carlos Abad

[Beach Climber]

They seriously struggled with what to do with Augusta when Lionel wasn’t around. I know why she chose to leave after her first run and why she was fired in the 90s but I wonder why they had those other stretches where one was around but the other wasn’t. I’m watching some episodes from 89 and I’m not sure if they explained why she left town. Once Julia and Mason reunited, she was barely seen and then she was gone entirely until she appeared a year later as that mobster’s widow. I think the Lockridges coming and going like they did hurt the show because they had to be the most popular family second to the Capwells and I found Lionel/Augusta’s relationship way more interesting than CC/Sophia’s.

[Marissa Gallant]

You know WAY more about California than I do. My complaints are usually confined to "There aren't mountains in the background in the Midwest." 

I've only known one person from the actual Santa Barbara and she was a Latina living up north, and she always wore black turtlenecks and sweaters.